This year I am really committing to not only finishing, but more importantly implementing all the studies that I embark on. I would say all the studies I engage in are related to health and wellness in one sense or another, whether that’s spiritual, social, emotional or physical. They are all related and they all interplay with each other. If one is out of balance, there tends to be imbalances that show up in another area as well. The understanding of this interconnection is where true holistic health lies. And that’s one thing that I find truly fascinating about astrology – it’s ability to see and weave all of these things together into a beautiful symphony.
Yesterday, as I was doing my studying of Medical Astrology, my mission with Life With Training Wheels – to help people see that there is always a silver lining and that God/Spirit/Universe is always working things in our favor if we only have the eyes to see and ears to hear – was reaffirmed. I was reading a chapter about the nervous system, emotions, stress and the pathway to the manifestation of illness. It was saying that the attitudes which consistently determine good health are when you can have “a strong commitment to self, work and family; a sense of control over the environment so that the person feels capable of dealing with whatever comes along; and an ability to make some sort of sense of what is happening and to feel that the challenge and effort are worthwhile. On the other hand, people are more likely to become ill in response to stress if they feel alienated from the outside world, if they feel powerless, and if they lack a commitment to anything they do.” (A Handbook of Medical Astrology – Jane Ridder-Patrick)
This really boils down to whether you fall into victim mentality or not, and is why one of my favorite quotes that you’ll hear me say over and over is “Wherever you go, there you are.” Whether you are happy with life or unhappy with life, whether the same types of people or situations keep showing up in your life or you are consistently presented with different ones, the common denominator is always you. I think victim mentality is overall the “easier” mentality to adopt, until you learn how to break the cycle of it, because then you don’t have to take personal responsibility for anything, right? Your situation, your happiness or sadness is always someone else’s fault or doing. But in reality, this is the harder path in life to choose. Not only because the science proves that this leads to ill health, but also because then you are giving all your power away. Sure, there is a certain level of the illusion in freedom by saying its someone else’s fault. But that’s just it – it’s an illusion. It may be more difficult at first if you aren’t used to it, but ultimately its entirely more liberating to realize you got you where you are based on your decisions and attitudes, and you are the only person that can change. Now doesn’t that sound more like freedom? To realize that if you don’t like the way something is going, you have the ability to make the change necessary to change the outcome. You are the one responsible for the inputs into your life, therefore you are also responsible for the outputs.
And yes, I do believe this also goes along with whatever trauma we have faced in our life. We may not have had any control over the trauma that was inflicted upon us, especially as children, but even sometimes in adulthood. We are not always in control of these things. Life does just sometimes happen. However, it IS our responsibility to determine how we choose to respond to that trauma. We can sit in the victim mentality of wondering why this happened and reliving how horrible it was and letting it control us and our reactions to the world because of it, and as a resulting pooping all over ourselves and the people around us. OR, you can choose to search for the silver lining and find meaning in it. Sometimes that may require deep work and continued questioning and exploration and lots of re-framing. Some questions to ask and the places to dig are “how can I use this to make me a better person? What lessons have I learned from this? What benefit can I extract from this experience that I wouldn’t have the opportunity to extract if I had not gone through this thing? Is there a way I can use this experience to help and be of service to other people?” And then, when you can start to see the beauty in something you originally deemed as “negative” you are able to re-frame the narrative of the entire situation and have some level of gratitude for it.
And gratitude – that’s where the real magic lies. Nothing beats an attitude of gratitude.
So knowing how much impact your mindset has on your overall health, which do you prefer? A positive mindset where you live from a place of love and gratitude and realize that you are the creator of the life you are living, or a negative mindset where you live from a place of fear and where you have no control over anything that happens to you.
There’s so much talk these days about this world we are living in being a simulation. It’s time we each take control of our characters and live the best and most loving life possible. A world full of love, compassion, grace, cooperation and understanding is the world that I want to live in. And I do believe that one of the starting points of creating that world is realizing the power we have over our own thoughts and actions and to take personal responsibility for them, and always be willing and seeking to continue to do and be better in each new situation we encounter. Of course allowing ourselves grace and compassion and love along the way as well. It all starts within. Health & wellness within ourselves will lead to health & wellness within the world.
What do you think? Do you struggle with maintaining a positive mindset? Or is that something that comes naturally to you? Is it something you would like help with? There are so many tools to help make mindset shifts possible. Comment below. I’d love to hear from you.
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